Research Paper: Introduction

Immigration Boom: Assimilation for Americanization

            A flood of people came to America with one thing in their mind to get a better life opportunity, however what they least expected was yet to become a lived reality. During the early and late 1900’s people from all over the world come to the United States. According to Bodnar, “ After the second decade of the nineteenth century and prior to World War Two over forty million of these individuals  left home lands in Asia, North America, Europe, and else were to find a place in the new economic order of capitalism”( Bodnar xv). The people’s ethnic backgrounds were Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, Italians and people all over Europe. The immigrant’s response to such a dramatic change to their native environment and culture was to get costumed to American culture, and life style, weather it meant speaking English, or eating American food. Clark states, “The process of adaptation was painful, and ethnic resilience in the face of pressure to conform to U.S. was a way of protecting the group and its members” (Clark 141). I comprehend that assimilation was a slow process that took the second and third generation to of immigrants to get accustom to. In the book “The Transplanted” by Bodnar illustrates a photo of an immigrant family taken at Ellis Island New York. The only thing they had was the clothes they were wearing and carried luggage of personal belongings. The expression on their faces reads a sense of misplaced and meager. The immigrants made a major impact in America because of their culture and their role in the U.S economy; which suggest the fact that immigrants come to the U.S for work. Handlin in his novel quotes, “ Why shall I forever beat my head against this unyielding wall there will be no end to my toil and my labor gains me nothing for what a life do I work “ ( Handlin 140). Understanding the immigration experience is based their adaptation and assimilation. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the process in assimilation of immigrants with different ethnic backgrounds and the outcomes.

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Wollenberg, Charles. Ethnic Conflict in California History. Los Angeles: Tinnon-Brown, 1970. 144. Print.

The novel “Ethnic Conflict in California History” by Charles Wollenberg explains the struggles people from different ethnic backgrounds faced during the post war. However the ethnic group who faced the most difficulties was the Mexicans Americans. According to Wollenberg, “The depression of the 1930’s caused a drastic decline in agricultural prices in the vegetable and berry fields near Los Angeles were recessing as little as migrants, the Okies and Arkies” (Wollenberg 144). Mexican Americans were strongly affected by the U.S. Great Depression; thus explains why conflicts arouse between the Mexican workers and California’s agriculture market. The Novel gives me a strong resource of information regarding immigration during the post war of 1865 and the Great Depression.

 

Clark, W. A. V. The California Cauldron: Immigration and the Fortunes of Local Communities. New York: Guilford, 1998.139-40. Print.

The novel “The California Cauldron by William A.V. Clark introduces the process of immigration into California, and the different ethnicities who contributed to the growth of California’s economy, also the overall outcome of assimilation. According to Clark “ The metaphor of the melting pot, in which new immigrants eventually are Americanized Ideally the work of the melting pot, the process of cultural assimilation took place over time” (Clark 139-140). I acknowledge the fact that the new generations would have to adapt in order for them to be accepted in a large society.    

Music and Culture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmF5jrzjSH0

 Juan Cortina